Image display device for displaying images responsive to number of times of selection of image data by user

ABSTRACT

In an image display device, a ROM contains a plurality of image data indicative of the actions of an animal character. A RAM includes a plurality of action level registers each of which stores for each image data the state of inputs given to select and display the image data. The user gives a command corresponding to a respective image of an animal character to select and display the action of the animal character optionally. When a random-number corresponding to the command is generated, image data which does not correspond to the input command can be displayed. If the generated random number has a particular value, the value of an action level register for the image data corresponding to the command is updated. Such operation is iterated and thus the value of the action level register is updated. When the user instructs the device to display the image data for which the updated value of the action level register has reached the predetermined value, the corresponding image data is displayed, so that the user can interestingly feel as if the user actually kept a pet.

This application is a division of Ser. No. 08/657,018, filed May 28,1996.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to image display devices and methods fordisplaying image data, and more particularly to an image display deviceand method for storing a plurality of image data and selectivelydisplaying the plurality of image data in accordance with the user'sinstructions.

2. Description of the Related Art

An image display device of a conventional electronic apparatus whichdisplays, for example, animal characters contains a plurality ofdisplayed images depending on a character to be displayed. The image ofany character to be displayed is usually moved or changed by theoperation of a plurality of keys of a key-in unit.

In the image display device, the moving of a displayed character istypically performed by a selective operation of up, down, right and leftcursor keys.

However, since in the conventional image display device, the respectiveoperations of the up, down, right and left cursor keys and correspondingmoves of a character are fixed, the user can interestingly feel asthough the displayed character were integral with the user herself, butthe user can not feel as though the displayed character were handled asan actual pet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present inventionto provide an image display device and method which is capable ofdisplaying a character which is handled as a more realistic one.

In order to achieve the above the object, according to the presentinvention, there is provided an image display device comprising: imagedata storage means which contains a plurality of image data; selectioncommanding means operated by the user for giving the device a command toselect image data to be displayed among from the plurality of image datacontained in the image data storage means; selection count storage meansfor counting and storing the number of times of selection of each of theimage data when the command to select and display that image data wasgiven by the selection commanding means; determining means fordetermining whether the number of times of selection of that image datastored in the selection count storage means is larger than apredetermined value for each of the plurality of image data stored inthe image data storage means; and display control means for displayingthe image data, the number of times of selection of which is determinedby the determining means as being larger than the predetermined valueand the command to selection of which is given by the selectioncommanding means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram indicative of the structure of an electroniccircuit of an electronic notebook which includes a display device as afirst embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows the arrangement of registers provided in a RAM of theelectronic notebook;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart indicative of a process performed in a pet modein the electronic notebook;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart indicative of a "sit down" display processperformed in the pet mode in the electronic notebook;

FIGS. 5A to 5C show displayed states of a dog character in the "sitdown" display process.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram indicative of the structure of an electroniccircuit of an electronic notebook which includes a display device as asecond embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 shows the arrangement of registers provided in a RAM of theelectronic notebook which includes the display device as the secondembodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart indicative of a process performed in a pet modein the electronic notebook which includes the display device as thesecond embodiment; and

FIGS. 9A to 9D show displayed states of a dog character involved in theprocess in the pet mode in the electronic notebook which includes thedisplay device as the second embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiment of the present invention will be described below withreference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram indicative of the structure of an electroniccircuit of an electronic notebook which includes a display device as afirst embodiment of the present invention.

The notebook includes a CPU 11, which controls the respective operationsof the circuit elements concerned in accordance with a system programcontained beforehand in a ROM 13 which is started up in accordance witha key operation signal from a key-in unit 12. In addition to the key-inunit 12 and ROM 13, the CPU 11 is connected to a voice receiver 14, arandom number generator 15 and a RAM 16.

The CPU 11 is also connected to a liquid crystal display 18 via adisplay driver 17.

The key-in unit 12 includes letter keys, a ten-key unit which are usedto input a "name" and a "telephone number" to be registered as notebookdata; a "mode" key used to select any one of a notebook mode and a petmode; a "write" key operated to register into the RAM 16 the notebookdata input in accordance with the operation of the letter keys andten-key unit; and a "retrieval" key operated to retrieve and display thenotebook data registered in the RAM 16 (those keys are not shown).

The ROM 13 contains a plurality of different image data in addition tothe system program used to control the CPU 11.

The display image data contained in ROM 13 includes, for example, dataon dog characters indicative of nine kinds of actions corresponding tocommands; that is, "lie down", "lie on your back", "hold out your hand","sit down", etc., in the form of a bit map.

The voice receiver 14 includes, for example, a microphone which receivesthe voice uttered by the user and supplies a corresponding voice signalto CPU 11 for voice recognition.

The random number generator 15 generates, for example, number data"1"-"9" randomly. The range of numbers to be generated, that is, whethera number should be generated in the whole range of "1"-"9" or in apartial range of "1"-"2" or "1"-"5" is determined in accordance with acommand from the CPU 11.

FIG. 2 shows the RAM 16 which includes a display register 16a into whichdata to be displayed on the display 18 is written as image data; arandom number register 16b into which data generated by the randomnumber generator 15 is written; action level registers 16c which storesdata on nine kinds of action names of a dog character contained in theROM 13 and the corresponding training levels; a notebook data register(not shown) into which notebook data such as "name" and "telephonenumber" input in the notebook mode is stored.

The liquid crystal display 18 displays either notebook data input inaccordance with the operation of the letter keys and the ten-key unit ornotebook data retrieved from the notebook registers of the RAM 16 inaccordance with the "retrieval" key operation.

In the pet mode, at least one-dog character data contained in the ROM 13is selectively read and displayed in accordance with a random numbervalue written in the random number register 16b of the RAM 16 and thetraining level of a command corresponding action written into the actionlevel register 16c.

The operation of the electronic notebook including the display device ofthe first embodiment will be described next.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart indicative of a process performed in the pet modein this electronic notebook.

When the user's voice command such as "sit down" or "hold out your hand"given to the pet is received by the voice receiver 14 in a state wherethe pet mode has been set by the operation of the "mode" key of thekey-in unit 12, the corresponding voice signal is supplied to CPU 11 forvoice recognition (step S1).

When the voice command recognized by the CPU 11 is, for example, "sitdown", a "sit down" display process is started up (step S2→SA). If thevoice command is "hold out your hand", a "hold out your hand" displayprocess is started up (step S2→SB).

FIG. 4 is a flow chart indicative of the "sit down" display processperformed in the pet mode in the electronic notebook which includes thedisplay device as the third embodiment.

FIGS. 5A to 5C show the displayed states of dog character data involvedin the "sit down" display process in the electronic notebook.

When the "sit down" display process is started up in accordance with theuser's voice command "sit down", first, the value of the training levelset in correspondence to the command action "sit down" in the actionlevel registers 16c of the RAM 16 is determined (step A1).

When the training level corresponding to the "sit down" is determined as"0", the random number generator 15 generates a random number in therange of "1"-"9", which is then written into the random register 16b andit is determined whether the random number is "1" (steps A1→A2a→A3).

When it is determined that the random number written into the randomnumber register 16b is in the range of "2"-"9" and not "1", noprocessing is performed and then control returns to the initial state ofthe processing in the pet mode (step A3→END).

When (1) the user's repeated voice command "sit down" is received andrecognized, (2) the "sit down" display process is stated up, and (3) itis determined that the training level corresponding to the "sit down" inthe action level register 16c is still "0" (step A1→A2a), a randomnumber in the range of "1"-"9" is generated from the random numbergenerator 15. When it is then determined that the generated randomnumber is "1", dog character data indicative of an action correspondingto the command "lie down" is (1) read from among the nine kinds of dogcharacter action data stored beforehand in the ROM 13 in accordance withthe determination that the training level corresponding to the "sitdown" is "0", as shown in FIG. 5A, (2) written into the display register16a of the RAM 16 and (3) displayed via the display driver 17 onto thedisplay 18 (step A3→A4→A5a).

In response to this operation, the training level corresponding to the"sit down" in the action level register 16c is incremented by one andset at "1" (step A6).

Thereafter, the user's repeated command "sit down" is received andrecognized, so that the "sit down" display process is start up, and itis determined that the training level corresponding to the "sit down" inthe action level register 16c is "1" (step A1→A2b). Thus, when it isdetermined that a random number generated in the range of "1"-"8" is"1", dog character data indicative of an action corresponding to thecommand "lie on your back" is read from among the nine kinds of dogcharacter action data stored beforehand in the ROM 13 in accordance withthe determination that the training level corresponding to the "sitdown" is "1", and written into the display register 16a of the RAM 16and displayed via the display driver 17 onto the display 18 (stepA3→A4→A5b).

In response to this operation, the training level corresponding to the"sit down" in the action level register 16c is incremented by "1" andset at "2" (step A6).

Thereafter, as the training level corresponding to the user's same voicecommand "sit down" repeated increases in order of "2"→"3"→"4", the rangeof random numbers generated is sequentially reduced in order of"1"-"7"→"1"-"6"→"1"-"5", so that the random number "1" is easy toobtain. Thus, when the user's voice command "sit down" is received andrecognized in the state where the training level corresponding to the"sit down" has increased to "7", and it is determined that the traininglevel corresponding to the "sit down" is "7", the random numbergenerator 15 generates a random number in the range of "1"-"2", whichnumber is then written into the random number register 16b, and itdetermined whether the random number is "1" (step A1→A2i→A3).

When it is determined that the generated random number is "1", dogcharacter data indicative of an action corresponding to the command"hold out your hand" action is read from among the nine kinds of dogcharacter action data stored beforehand in the ROM 13 in accordance withthe determination that the training level corresponding to the "sitdown" is "7", as shown in FIG. 5B, and written into the display register16a of the RAM 16 and displayed via the display driver 17 onto thedisplay 18 (step A3→A4→A5i).

In response to this operation, the training level corresponding to the"sit down" in the action level register 16c is incremented by one andset at "8" (step A6).

Thus, when the training level corresponding to "sit down" in the actionlevel register 16c of the RAM 16 is set at "8", the voice command "sitdown" is fixed as a command to the display of the dog character dataindicative of an action corresponding to the command "sit down". In thissituation, when the user's voice command "sit down" is again receivedand recognized, and, as shown in FIG. 5C, it is determined that thetraining level corresponding to the "sit down" is "8", the dog characterdata indicative of the action corresponding to the command "sit down" is(1) read from among the dog character data indicative of the nine kindsof actions stored beforehand in the ROM 13 beforehand, (2) written intothe display register 16a of the RAM 16 and (3) displayed via the displaydriver 17 onto then display 18 (step A1a→A7).

Thus, the dog character, data on which is contained in the ROM 13, istrained as the dog character which "sits down" in obedience to theuser's voice command "sit down".

Also, even when the voice command "hold out your hand" or "lie down" isgiven repeatedly in place of the "sit down", the "hold out your hand" or"lie down" display process similar to the "sit down" display process(FIG. 4) is started up. Thus, when the corresponding action traininglevel in the action level register 16c reaches "8", the dog characterwhich "holds out her hand" or "lie down" is selectively displayed andtrained in obedience to the voice command "hold out your hand" or "liedown".

In summary, according to the electronic notebook which includes thedisplay device of the first embodiment, when the user's voice commands"sit down", "hold out your hand", etc., is repeatedly received by thevoice receiver 14, a random number is generated by the random numbergenerator 15 set such that the range of random numbers generated isreduced in order of "1"-"9"→. . . →"1"-"2" in accordance with anincrease in the training level of the corresponding action in the actionlevel register 16c of the RAM 16, and written into the random numberregister 16b. Only when the generated random number is "1", the dogcharacter data indicative of an action which does not correspond to theuser's command is read from the ROM 13 and displayed on the display 18,the value of the training level corresponding to the user's command isincremented. When the training level reaches "8", the correspondingvoice command is fixed and the corresponding dog character data isselected and displayed. Thus, there is no need for giving a command bythe mechanical operation of the key-in unit unlike the case in theconventional image display device, but a dog character which, forexample, "sits down" or "holds out her hand" in obedience to a user'svoice command based on reality can be displayed via the respectivestages of training to thereby greatly improve the interest of characterdisplay.

While in the first embodiment the arrangement is such that the trainingof the dog character is displayed by the non-contact operation based onthe user's voice command, the arrangement may be such that the trainingof the dog character by the non-contact operation based on the user'shand gesture command is displayed.

By setting a different range of random numbers or a different range oftraining levels for each command, the degree of difficulty of trainingcan be changed for each command such that, for example, the training fora simple command is easily achieved or otherwise the training for adifficult command can not be achieved easily, to thereby achieve morerealistic training.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram indicative of the structure of an electroniccircuit of an electronic notebook including a display device as a secondembodiment of the present invention.

The electronic notebook includes a CPU 21 which controls the respectiveoperations of the circuit elements concerned in accordance with a systemprogram stored beforehand in a ROM 23 which is started up by a keyoperation signal from a key-in unit 22. In addition to the key-in unit22 and ROM 23, the CPU 21 is connected to an infrared light transmitter14, an infrared light receiver 25 and a RAM 26. The CPU 21 is alsoconnected to a liquid crystal display 28 via a display driver 27.

The key-in unit 22 includes letter keys and a ten-key unit which areused to input a "name" and a "telephone number" to be registered asnotebook data; a "mode" key used to select any one of a notebook modeand a pet mode; a "write" key operated to register into the RAM 26 thenotebook data input in accordance with the operation of the letter keysand ten-key unit; and a "retrieval" key operated to retrieve and displaythe notebook data registered in the RAM 26 (those keys are not shown).

The key-in unit 22 also includes a "feed" key 22a operated when a dogcharacter indicative of a desired action is displayed in accordance withthe user's hand gesture command in the pet mode.

The ROM 23 contains a plurality of different image data in addition tothe system program used to cause the CPU 21 to provide controloperations of the elements concerned.

The display image data contained in ROM 23 includes a plurality of kindsof dog character's data indicative of a like number of actionscorresponding to the commands, for example, "lie down", "lie on yourback", "hold out your hand", "sit down", etc., in the form of a bit map.

The infrared light transmitter 24 includes a light emitting elementwhich emits infrared light having a predetermined frequency inaccordance with a command given by CPU 21 in the pet mode.

The infrared light receiver 25 includes a photodetector which receivesexternal infrared light in the pet mode and supplies a correspondingphotodetection signal to CPU 21.

FIG. 7 shows the arrangement of registers in the RAM 26 of theelectronic notebook which includes the display device as the secondembodiment.

RAM 26 includes a display register 26a into which display data to bedisplayed on the display 28 is to be written as image data; actioncommand registers 26b which store data on a plurality of kinds of actionnames of the dog character as is stored in the ROM 23 and thecorresponding received commands (the number of times of receipt ofinfrared light per predetermined time in the infrared light receiver25); corresponding training level registers n each counted up due to theoperation of the "feed" key 22a when the dog character indicative of itsaction corresponding to one of the action names stored in the actioncommand registers 26b is displayed; command fixing flag registers F ineach of which a flag which indicates the fixation of a received commandis set when the training level "10" is set in the corresponding traininglevel register n in correspondence to the action name stored in theaction command register 26b concerned; and a notebook data register (notshown) in which notebook data such as "name" and "telephone number" isrecorded.

The display 28 displays one of notebook data input in accordance withthe operation of the letter keys and ten-key unit in the notebook modeor notebook data retrieved from the notebook data registers of RAM 26 inaccordance with the operation of the "retrieval" key.

In the pet mode, data on at least one of the dog character actionscontained in the ROM 23 is selectively read and displayed in accordancewith the received command corresponding to the number of times ofreceipt of infrared light by the infrared light receiver 25.

The operation of the electronic notebook including the display device ofthe second embodiment will be described next.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart indicative of a process performed in the pet modein the electronic notebook including the display device of the secondembodiment.

FIGS. 9A to 9D show the displayed states of dog character data involvedin the processing in the pet mode in the electronic notebook of thesecond embodiment.

When the CPU 21 is set in the pet mode by the operation of the "mode"key of the key-in unit 22, infrared light is emitted from the infraredlight transmitter 24.

As shown in FIG. 9A, if the user's hand is waved twice in thenon-contact manner (that is, the user makes two hand gestures) beforethe light emitting element of the infrared light transmitter 24 in apredetermined time as a command "sit down" to a dog character, data onwhich is stored in the ROM 23 for training purposes, the infrared lightemitted from the transmitter 24 is reflected by the user's hand andreceived by the receiver 25 each time the user's hand is passed and thetwo resulting received light signals are delivered to CPU 21 (stepP1→P2).

In response to this operation, it is determined whether the receivedcommand "2" corresponding to the number of times of receipt of theinfrared light is the fixed one in the action command register 26b forwhich a flag "1" is set in the corresponding command fixing register Fof RAM 26 (step P3).

In this case, in the initial processing in the pet mode, no actioncommands are stored in the action command registers 26b and no flags areset in the corresponding command fixing registers F either, so that whenit is determined that the user's hand gesture command "2" is not fixed,it is determined whether the hand gesture command "2" was once stored asa non-fixed command for some action although the command fixing flag "1"has not been set now (step P3→P4).

If not, the dog character data indicative of different actions containedin the ROM 23 is randomly selected and read out and written into thedisplay register 26a of RAM 26 and displayed via the display driver 27onto the display 28 (step P4→P5).

When by the random selection and display of the dog character data, no"sitting down" dog character which the user desires to train as her handgesture command "2" is displayed, but, for example, data on a dogcharacter which "holds out her hand" is displayed, and if no operationsare performed in a predetermined time, the control returns to therespective infrared light emission and receipt waiting states in theinfrared light transmitter 24 and receiver 25 (step P6→RETURN).

As shown in FIG. 9B, by user's performing the two hand-gestureoperations repeatedly, the emission/receipt of the infrared light isperformed in a manner similar to that mentioned above. When it isdetermined that the hand gesture command "2", although fixed by thecommand fixing flag F, is not the one stored temporarily as a non-fixedcommand, the plurality of dog character data indicative of actionsstored in the ROM 23 is randomly selected and read, written into thedisplay registers 26a of the RAM 26 and displayed via the display driver27 on the display 28 (steps P1-P5).

When the "sitting down" dog character which the user desires to train asthe hand gesture command "2" is displayed by the random selection anddisplay of the dog character data, and the "feed" key 22a is operated inthe predetermined time, a received command is stored as "2" incorrespondence to the "sit down" received command register 26b₂ of theaction command registers 26b in the RAM 26 (step P6→P7).

Although the emission and receipt of the infrared light is performed ina manner similar to that mentioned above, by the user's two handgestures, and it is determined that the hand gesture command "2" is notfixed in the command fixing flag F and if it is determined that the handgesture command "2" is the one stored temporarily as the non-fixingcommand in the "sit down" received command register 26b₂ of the actioncommand registers 26b, one of the plurality of dog character action datastored in the ROM 23 is randomly selected, read out and written into thecorresponding display register 26a of the RAM 26 and displayed on thedisplay 28 via the display driver 27 (steps P1-P4→P8).

When the "sitting down" dog character which the user desires to train asher hand gesture command "2" by this random selection and display of thedog character data is displayed, and the "feed" key 22a is operated inthe predetermined time, it is determined and recognized on the basis ofthe relationship in correspondence between the received command and theaction name in the "sit down" received command register 26b₂ of theaction command register 26b that the action of the dog characterdisplayed on the display 28 corresponds to the received command "sitdown", and the value of the corresponding training level register nincremented by one to become "1" (step P9→P10→P11).

In response to this operation, it is determined whether the incrementedvalue of the training level register n corresponding to the "sit down"received command register 26b₂ has reached "10" or the command fixinglevel. If not, the control returns to the respective infrared lightemission and receipt waiting states in the infrared light transmitter 24and receiver 25 (step P12→RETURN).

Thereafter, when the user further makes a command gesture twice, and theuser operates the "feed" key 22a each time the "sitting down" dogcharacter corresponding to the action for which the user desires totrain the dog character is displayed, the level value of the traininglevel register n corresponding to the "sit down" receipt commandregister 26b₂ is incremented repeatedly. Thus, its training level valueincreases in order of "2"→"3"→"4". . . (steps P1-P4→P8-P12→RETURN).

As shown in FIG. 9C, if a "lying down" dog character which does notcorrespond to an action for which the user desires to train the dogcharacter is displayed by the random selection of the dog character whenthe user further makes the command gesture twice, it is determined thatno "feed" key 22a is operated. Thus, the control returns directly to therespective infrared light emission and receipt waiting states in theinfrared transmitter 24 and receiver 25 (steps P1-P4→P8, P9→RETURN).

If the "feed" key 22 is operated wrongly when the "lying down" dogcharacter which does not correspond to the action for which the userdesires to train the dog character is displayed, as shown in FIG. 9C, itis determined on the basis of the relationship in correspondence betweenthe received command and the action name in the "sit down" receivedcommand register 26b₂ of the action command register 26b that the actionof the dog character displayed on the display 28 is the action "liedown" which does not correspond to the received command. Thus, the levelvalue of the corresponding training level register n is not incrementedand the control returns again to the respective infrared light emissionand receipt waiting states in the infrared light transmitter 24 andreceiver 25 (step P1-P4→P8-P10→RETURN).

Thereafter, when the user further makes the command gesture twicerepeatedly and operates the "feed" key 22a each time the "sitting down"dog character corresponding to the action to be trained is displayed,the level value of the training level register n corresponding to the"sit down" reception command register 26b₂ is incremented repeatedly.When it is determined that the training level value has reached thecommand fixing level "10", the corresponding command fixing flagregister F is set at "1" and the received command "2" involved in theuser's hand gestures is fixed as the command "sit down" (stepsP1-P4→P8-P13).

Thus, the result is that the dog character, data on which is stored inthe ROM 23, has been trained so as to "sit down" in obedience to theuser's two-hand gesture command.

As shown in FIG. 9D, when the user performs her two hand gestureoperations, and the infrared light sent from the infrared lighttransmitter 24 is reflected twice in a predetermined time and receivedby the infrared light receiver 25, the received command "2" isdetermined to be a fixed one because the command fixing flag "1" is setin the command fixing flag F corresponding to the received commandregister 26b₂ in which the reception command "2" is stored. Thus, dataon the "sitting down" dog character is selectively read incorrespondence to the fixing command "2" from among the plurality ofkinds of different dog character data contained in the ROM 23 and thecorresponding dog character is displayed on the display 28 (stepsP1-P3→P14).

In summary, according to the electronic notebook which includes thedisplay device as the second embodiment, when the infrared lightreceiver 25 receives a reflection of the infrared light involved in theuser's hand gesture command, any one of the plurality of different dogcharacter data stored beforehand in the ROM 23 is read randomly anddisplayed on the display 28. When a dog character indicative of thedesired action is displayed and the "feed" key 22a of the key-in unit 22is operated, the count of receipt of the infrared light depending on thehand gesture command is stored as the command to the desired action inthe corresponding action command register 26b of the RAM 26, and thetraining level of the corresponding training level register n is countedup. When the training level n reaches "10" by the random display of adog character indicative of the desired action based on the repetitionof similar hand gesture commands and the repeated operation of the"feed" key 22a, the flag "1" is set in the corresponding command fixingregister F, so that the hand gesture command is fixed as the user'sdesired action command for the dog character and thereafter, the dogcharacter indicative of the action obeying that action command isselected and displayed. Thus, no commands are required to be given bythe mechanical operation of the key-in unit as is done in theconventional image display device. By the user's hand gesture commandlike a realistic one, the dog character, which, for example, "sits down"or "holds out her hand" can be stored by selective training anddisplayed to thereby greatly improve the fun of displaying a character.

While in the second embodiment the presence of the non-contact operationby the user's hand is detected, using a reflection of the infrared lightemitted from the device proper, arrangement may be such that, forexample, by-hand interruption of external light, by-hand reflection ofsound waves (for example, ultrasonic waves) emitted by the deviceproper, by-hand interruption of external sound waves or changes in themagnetism produced from a magnetic material held by the user's hand issensed and the image displayed on the display of the display deviceproper is changed and displayed in accordance with the expression of theuser's intention and command by the user's hand gesture withoutcontacting with the device proper.

While in the respective embodiments the image displayed on the displayis selected and displayed in accordance with the non-contact operationsuch as a voice command or a gesture command, different control, forexample, including changing the mechanical operations in the deviceproper may be employed in the image display as well as other processes.

What is claimed is:
 1. An image display device comprising:image datastorage means for storing a plurality of image data; selectioncommanding means operable by a user for giving the device a command toselect image data to be displayed from among the plurality of image datastored in the image data storage means; selection count storage meansfor counting and storing a number of times of selection of each of theimage data; determining means for determining whether the number oftimes of selection of each image data stored in the selection countstorage means is larger than a predetermined value for each of theplurality of image data stored in the image data storage means; anddisplay control means for displaying image data whose number of times ofselection is determined by the determining means as being larger thanthe predetermined value and whose selection has been commanded by theselection commanding means; wherein the selection count storage meanscomprises:random number generating means for generating a random numberwhen the selection commanding means gives the command to select theimage data from among the image data stored in the image data storagemeans for displaying purposes; and random number counting means forcounting and storing the number of times of selection of each of theimage data corresponding to the particular value only when the randomnumber generated by the random number generating means has a particularvalue.
 2. An image display device according to claim 1, wherein theselection commanding means comprises non-contact selection commandingmeans for enabling the user to command the selection of the image datawithout contacting the device.
 3. An image display device according toclaim 2, wherein the non-contact selection commanding meanscomprises:sending means for sending infrared light; receiving means forreceiving a reflection of infrared light sent by the infrared lightsending means, the reflection being produced by an action of the user;and selection command executing means for executing the command toselect the image data stored in the image data storage means dependingon a receipt state of the reflection of the infrared light in thereceiving means.
 4. An image display device according to claim 2,wherein the non-contact selection commanding means comprises:voicereceiving means for receiving a voice; voice recognizing means forrecognizing the voice received by the voice receiving means; andrecognition commanding means for executing the command to select theimage data stored in the image data storage means based on therecognition by the voice recognizing means.
 5. An image display deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the display control means furthercomprises:random display means for selecting and displaying image datarandomly from among the plurality of image data stored in the image datastorage means when the selection commanding means gives the command toselect the image data, the stored number of times of selection of whichis determined by the determining means as not being the predeterminedvalue.
 6. An image display device according to claim 5, wherein therandom display means comprises:count checking means for checking thenumber of times of selection stored by the selection count storagemeans; and random control means for limiting a range of the image datato be selected randomly from among the image data stored in the imagedata storage means in accordance with a result of the checking of thecount checking means.
 7. An image display device according to claim 1,wherein the random number generating means comprises:random numbercontrol means for controlling a range of random numbers to be generatedin accordance with the number of times of selection of each of the imagedata counted by the random number counting means, said random numbercontrol means increasing a probability of generation of the particularvalue as the number of times of selection counted by the random numbercounting means increases.
 8. An image display device according to claim1, wherein the image data storage means comprises image data storagemeans for storing a plurality of image data on various actions of ananimal character; andthe selection commanding means comprises selectioninstructing means for giving a command to an animal character, data onwhich is stored in the image data storage means.